*Book overview from Barnes and Noble website*
Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last!
But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!
But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!
So, you wanna pick the book up? huuuh? Click Me!
WAIT! Before you read, you should know there are spoilers in this post! If you don't wanna know something that could spoil the ending for you, don't read this!
As this was one of my favorite books as a child, I decided to revisit an old classic. I was definitely in for a treat. Roald Dahl seemed to visit the topic of money and even placed a stereotype on each of the characters. Charlie Bucket, the main character/ protagonist of the story, has trouble getting a sufficient amount of food on a daily basis. While Augustus Gloop on the other hand definitely has control issues when it comes to chocolate. Although there are stereotypes laced through the novel, Dahl does a somewhat decent job at making sure nobody really judges someone's character from the amount of money they have (Except Veruca Salt, I mean come on! The girl acts like a witch to get what she wants). Charlie never outwardly complains about being poor. He is a modest, respectful child.
***
The whole purpose of the children to visit the factory was to decide who he wanted to take over when Wonka was ready to retire. Instead of going off of one’s face value, Wonka decided to pick the child based on their judge of character. Dahl seems to magnify stereotypes in this novel to really portray the importance of character in a human, and how money means nothing in comparison to character.
P.S. Roald Dahl is one of my favorite story tellers. Even if this book doesn't seem appealing to you, hes got plenty of other great reads!
My rating:****
~There are some things that are definitely problematic in this book, but it was one of my childhood favorites. I would recommend it to someone but share with someone the weaker aspects of the book.
My rating:****
~There are some things that are definitely problematic in this book, but it was one of my childhood favorites. I would recommend it to someone but share with someone the weaker aspects of the book.
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